Smarts Medications - Weight Loss

The newest medications for weight loss sounds like a dieter’s dream. One makes you feel full before you have eaten much. Another blocks your body’s ability to absorb nearly a third of fat you eat.
If you are among those who can not lose weight on your own and the excess weight has produced medical problems, you may consider weight loss medications and combine with fewer calories and more activity to lose weight and improve your health.
Doctors today prescribe one of two drugs for weight loss. These drugs work in different ways.
The FDA approved a drug called Xenical (Orlistat), the first in a new class of weight loss medications. Unlike other drugs, which work through your central nervous system, Xenical is a non-systemic drug that acts only in your digestive tract and prevent up to 30 percent of fat being absorbed into your body.
The recommended dose is 120 milligrams up to three times a day with meals that contain fat.
Because your body does not absorb this drug into your bloodstream, you avoid potentially serious side effects such as heart valve disease. The side effects such as fatty or oily stools that you do experience are usually mild and temporary.
Studies show that these side effects might have some added benefit because they may discourage you from eating fatty foods. That’s a good news because to lose weight you must also reduce your calorie intake. As fat contain twice the calorie compared to protein and carbohydrates.
Sibutramine is a systemic drug that is absorbed into the bloodstream and acts in the brain mainly affecting serotonin and norepinephrine and makes you feel full more quickly.
It can cause a small increase in blood pressure. For some people, the increase can be high enough to warrant discontinuing the drug.
It is not recommended for people with uncontrolled high blood pressure, heart disease, irregular heartbeat or a history of stroke. If you do take Sibutramine, the FDA recommends that you carefully monitor your blood pressure.
The most common side effects noticed when you are on this drug are headache, dry mouth, constipation and insomnia.
Improving your health over the long haul is the most important reason for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight. Along the way feeling better physically, feeling better about yourself and perhaps looking better are not bad short term payoffs for taking on tough challenge. They may spur you on to reach your long-term goal.
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist on weight loss medications that is safe for weight loss.